NCAA Football Betting Notes: Northern Illinois goes no-huddle offense

Under first-year head coach Dave Doeren (Wisconsin DC), Northern Illinois expects to utilize a no-huddle offense. Here is a video of senior quarterback Chandler Harnish discussing the change. The Huskies return all five offensive linemen after allowing only 13 sacks last season. NIU averaged 65 offensive plays per game. The big concern for this season is only two starters return from a unit that led the MAC in scoring defense (18.9 ppg).

The Huskies were picked to finish second in this year’s Mid-American Conference preseason media poll, more on the strength of their offense, the one that’s talking about executing 90 plays a game at an almost Oregon-like tempo.

“Because our offense runs the no-huddle now, our guys are scrambling in practice,” Progar said. “So when it comes to the game and teams aren’t running the no-huddle, it’ll slow down a little bit for them and it’ll be a little bit easier for them to run the plays and understand the defense.”